The Global Organ Shortage: Economic Causes, Human Consequences, Policy Responses (stanford Economics And Finance)
by T. Randolph Beard /
2013 / English / PDF
2.6 MB Download
Although organ transplants provide the best, and often the only,
effective therapy for many otherwise fatal conditions, the great
benefits of transplantation go largely unrealized because of
failures in the organ acquisition process. In the United States,
for instance, more than 10,000 people die every year either
awaiting transplantation, or as a result of deteriorating health
exacerbated by the shortage of organs. Issues pertaining to organ
donation and transplantation represent, perhaps, the most complex
and morally controversial medical dilemmas aside from abortion and
euthanasia. However, these quandaries are not unsolvable. This book
proposes compensating organ donors within a publicly controlled
monopsony. This proposal is quite similar to current practice in
Spain, where compensation for cadaveric donation now occurs "in
secret," as this text reveals. To build their recommendations, the
authors provide a medical history of transplantation, a history of
the development of national laws and waiting lists, a careful
examination of the social costs and benefits of transplantation, a
discussion of the causes of organ shortages, an evaluation of
"partial" reforms tried or proposed, an extensive ethical
evaluation of the current system and its competitors.
Although organ transplants provide the best, and often the only,
effective therapy for many otherwise fatal conditions, the great
benefits of transplantation go largely unrealized because of
failures in the organ acquisition process. In the United States,
for instance, more than 10,000 people die every year either
awaiting transplantation, or as a result of deteriorating health
exacerbated by the shortage of organs. Issues pertaining to organ
donation and transplantation represent, perhaps, the most complex
and morally controversial medical dilemmas aside from abortion and
euthanasia. However, these quandaries are not unsolvable. This book
proposes compensating organ donors within a publicly controlled
monopsony. This proposal is quite similar to current practice in
Spain, where compensation for cadaveric donation now occurs "in
secret," as this text reveals. To build their recommendations, the
authors provide a medical history of transplantation, a history of
the development of national laws and waiting lists, a careful
examination of the social costs and benefits of transplantation, a
discussion of the causes of organ shortages, an evaluation of
"partial" reforms tried or proposed, an extensive ethical
evaluation of the current system and its competitors.
